Bard
#Bards
Bards wander the Fifth World, traveling from one family to the next, telling stories and spreading the news. While a stranger’s appearance always causes some concern, bards live by the hospitality of strangers, and so treat any act that would betray that hospitality as a betrayal of bards everywhere. Families know this, and they also value the songs, stories, and news that bards bring with them, so they typically welcome bards with feasting and celebration.
Besides entertainment, bards provide an important social function by bringing news of events in the wider world beyond the family’s territory. While rarely as immediately important as life within the territory, this network of itinerant bards provides the closest thing to mass media found in the Fifth World.
Someone who wishes to become a bard may accompany a proven bard. She must memorize dozens of long, epic poems, some of which take days to recite in full, and recite them, word for word, to her teacher’s satisfaction before gaining recognition as a bard. Of course, some take to traveling without undergoing such a rigorous education. Bards love stories of the song duels between true bards and such pretenders, as they typically end with some pointed moral about doing things the right way.
Some families also rely on bards to serve as neutral arbiters and judges, asking them to make a decision on an intractable dispute. Foolish bards simply issue a ruling, and sometimes suffer the consequences from the angry people they ruled against. Wise bards employ their stories to address both sides of the conflict, suggesting some reconciliation that all can not only understand but, through the empathic journey of the story, relate to and identify with.
Bards will typically travel the world for several decades before returning home to their own families. Many bards end up circumnavigating the globe or visiting all seven continents. Such travel requires more time (and more adventure) in the Fifth World, but it remains feasible for someone, like a bard, who dedicates enough of her life to the pursuit.